


Signals From Space

by Eastofthemoon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Family Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-08 15:32:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12867597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eastofthemoon/pseuds/Eastofthemoon
Summary: Fame spreads farther than anyone could have known.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, an anon sent me a prompt of what if an observatory on Earth received a signal from space and it turned out to be footage of the Voltron Show from season 4...so I ran with this idea. Enjoy.

“Carlos, is there more coffee?”

Carlos looked up from his computer and pointed to the pot. “Yeah, Chris turned the pot on. Should be ready now.”

Lola rubbed lifted her glasses to rubbed her eyes. “Thanks,” she said. 

Carlos watched her pour the cup and take a long sip of it before sighing in bliss. “That’s the good stuff.”

Carlos chuckled as he leaned back in his chair. “You are allowed to go home and sleep, you know.”

Lola grinned. “No way!” She held up her finger and thumb. “We’re this close to deciphering that alien transmission. There’s just no way I can sleep.”

Carlos nodded. “I get ya, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”

Sure, their lab had managed to pick up that alien signal, and sure they had spent the last month trying to figure out it’s meaning. However, that didn’t mean they had found aliens. 

Carlos found himself thinking of baby brother again as he gave a sad smile. If he had heard about this, he would be jumping up and down in excitement and demanding he take him to the lab to show him. He could be such a brat at times...Man, Carlos missed him.

“Hey,” Lola said as she touched his shoulder. “You okay?”

Carlos broke out of his memories and nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just-”

“GUYS!” Christ skidded to a halt as he entered the lab and his curly black hair bounced with him as he placed his laptop on the counter. “I did it! I figured out the code! And it’s footage!!”

Carlos jumped out of his chair. “What?! What are you talking about?!”

Chris rubbed his hands. “I mean it took some tinkering, and at first I thought it was just a recording of sound, but then when I realized it was also visual that broke everything-”

“Cut to the chase, Chris,” Lola said as she set down her mug. “Can we actually understand it?”

Chris nodded as he lifted the screen of the laptop. “Yes, but I haven’t watched it yet. I wanted to wait until you two were with me.”

Carlos heart was racing, and found it difficult to keep it calm as they gathered around the screen.

“Are we ready for this?” he asked as he looked to his partners.

The both nodded with pure glee and and anxiousness shining in their eyes.

Chris hit the play button. At first there was static and then a clear image appeared.

Carlos blinked as his eyes adjusted and then blinked. “What..is that..an ice ring?”

“Uh..yeah,” Lola stated and groaned. “Oh no, did we pick up some ice show?”

“No, impossible,” Chris stated sounded baffled. “I checked this with all current satellite signals-”

“EVERYONE!” a voice called out in the video prepare for the show of your lives.

Suddenly a giant robot red lion flew out in the ring and landed in the center of it.

Carlos choked. “What that...that thing is huge!” It almost looked bigger than some of the Garrison’s ships, but that couldn’t be possible right?

“And it can fly? How?” Lola asked as she scratched her head. “How?”

A light shone on the robot and something, probably the pilot, crawled out on the robot’s nose.

The crowd cheered as the announcer spoke again.

“Watch, as Lover Boy Lance shows off his amazing skills!”

Carlos froze and paled. “What?” His finger shook as he pointed at the screen. “Did..did that just say Lance?”

Lola chewed her bottom lip as Chris gave a nervous smile. “Yeah, but Lance isn’t a rare name. I mean...it’s probably a coincidence.”

“Yeah,” Carlos replied as he rubbed his eyes. 

His missing little brother appearing in some strange alien signal from space? Yeah, no way-

“HELLO VOLTRON FANS!”

Carlos paled. No. No way, and yet… he knew that voice.

The footage began to zoom in on the figure. It was too hard to see, but the person had dropped a rope down the nose of the lion and was climbing down it.

“Zoom in,” Carlos demanded as he pointed at the screen. “Chris, please!”

Chris sweated as he typed and the screen zoomed in.

They had a clear picture of the figure’s face. A person, dressed in white and blue armour that was now doing gymnastics moves while blowing kisses. This person, that was now dangling from a giant robot lion’s nose...was his baby brother.

“It’s...Lance,” Carlos muttered in shock.

“Are..are you certain?” Lola asked.

Lance did a twist and shook his fingers. “And, yes, Ladies, the Lanceanator is single!”

Carlos groaned. “Yes...yes that’s him.” That was definitely Lance’s lame nickname he used back when he was in middle school. It was definitely him.

“Huh…” Chris muttered as he leaned back and tucked his hands into his lab coat. “Small universe?”

Carlos watched the footage, still in complete disbelief. How in the world would his mother react to this?


	2. Chapter 2

Sophia raised her eyebrow as she watched the footage and turned in her chair to her brother.

“So...you’re telling me, that our baby brother,” she gestured to the screen, “got abducted by an alien circus?”

Carlos sighed. “Yes, but I don’t think it’s a circus.”

“Really?” she said as Lance spun on the ice. “Because this screams circus to me.”

“Circus or not, it’s clearly Lance,” Carlos said as he reached over and fast forward the footage. “And Hunk for that matter!”

They watched Hunk raised some kind of blaster as he tried to keep his balance on the ice.

“I always did say yellow looks good on him,” Sophia commented.

Carlos rolled his eyes. “Focus, little sis,” he said as he fast forward again. “Look, there’s Shiro. Remember him?”

“Rather hard not to considering how much Lance idolized him,” Sophia commented and frowned. “Not to mention his face was all over the news after that failed mission.”

“And one he clearly didn’t die in,” Carlos stated as he paused the video. “This means that the Garrison has been lying this whole time.”

And that infuriated Carlos. 

When Lance, Hunk and their friend Pidge disappeared, the Garrison kept claiming they had run off. No one in their, or Hunk’s family for that matter, ever bought that story. Lance had been dreaming of flying a spaceship since the kid could walk. Carlos could remember Lance being little and demand Carlos play space ranger and use a cooking pots as space helmets. 

It was just all so unbelievable. Everyone had been so worried, even starting to believe they would never see any of them again..and here Lance was alive and well on the screen. 

Carlos swore if Lance ever came back home, he was going to hug and then kill the brat!

“Whoa, whoa,” Sophia said as she raised her hands. “Bro, I get where you’re coming from, but we don’t know if the Garrison lied. This might be a shock to them too.” Her frown tightened. “Question is what do we do now?”

Carlos sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know, but there’s a bigger problem we have to address first.”

Sophia tilted her head. “What’s that?”

Carlos swallowed. “How are we gonna explain this to Mom and Dad?”

Sophia froze and winced. “Oh, yeah,” she twirled in her chair. “Mom is not going to like this.”

“I’m not going to like what?”

Carlos paled instantly, as did Sophia and they both turned. Their mother stood in the doorway with a basket of laundry against her hip as she frowned at them.

“I know that look,” she spoke as she set down the basket. “What are you two hiding?”

“It’s...um…” Carlos stammered.

Sophia sighed and raised her head. “Carlos found Lance.”

All suspicious vanished from their mother’s face as shock replaced it. Her eyes widened. “W..what?”

“Sophia,” Carlos hissed.

Sophia sighed. “We were going to tell her, might as well be blunt about it-”

“I don’t care how you do it,” their mother stammered as she took hold of Carlos’s shoulders. “Where’s Lance? Is he okay? Where is he?”

Carlos took a deep breath as he gently took her hands off his shoulders. “He’s alive, and…” He scowled. “Frankly, looks like he’s having the time of his life.”

His mother shook her head in confusion. “I..I don’t understand.”

“Sit, Mom,” Sophia said as she got out of the chair and pointed to the laptop. “We have something you need to see.”

His mother looked uncertain, but did as they instructed. Carlos held his breath as he hit the play button and stood back.

The footage play and their mother still looked baffled, until Lance appeared on screen. She gasped, placing a hand over her mouth as tears formed in her eyes. “Lance! My baby is alive,” she weeped. “He’s okay!” 

Carlos gave her a gentle squeeze on her shoulder. His mother wiped at her eyes as she watched Lance skate on the ice and frowned. “What..what is he doing?” She frowned and her eyes widened. “Is that Hunk?” She turned her head to Carlos. “Son, what is this?”

“At the observatory lab we picked up a weird signal,” Carlos said as they watched Shiro leap onto the ice along since a small green figure that he was certain was the missing Pidge. “We thought we found evidence of alien contact..and..well.” Lance appeared again as he pointed. “We found this!”

Their mother opened and shut her mouth and looked to Sophia. “I still don’t understand.”

Sophia rubbed her neck. “Lance got abducted by an alien circus.”

“We don’t know that,” Carlos hissed, but then pulled up a chair. “However,” he pointed to the crowd, “Chris got zoomed pictures of them and...they’re definitely aliens.”

Carlos still was trying to wrap his mind around the weird bean pole creatures. If those existed, then just what else had Lance found.

“Aliens?” their mother squeaked and then looked determine. “Well..we should inform the Garrison.”

“No, Mom, don’t think so,” Sophia said as she paused the video. “Look? The tall person there? It’s Shiro, Lance’s hero.”

Their mother gasped. “Oh, my, yes..but wait, didn’t he die?”

“That’s what the Garrison claimed,” Carlos growled. “And if they lied about that I doubt they be thrilled with us bringing proof they were wrong.”

Their mother’s eyes narrowed. “I see,” she said in a cold tone.

Carlos and Sophia exchanged a concerned look. They both knew the meaning of that and Carlos wondered if perhaps their mother was going to fetch her rolling pin to ‘have words’ with the Garrison.

Sophia cleared her throat. “So..anyway..we were debating on what to do-”

“I know exactly what we will do,” their mother stated as she rose and took a deep breath. “First, we are going to tell the rest of the family that Lance is alright, then we’ll call Hunk’s family over to tell them and then I shall bring this to show Mrs. Holt.”

Carlos frowned. “You sure, Mom?”

“Of course, I am,” she stated with her arms crossed. “That poor woman deserves to know her daughter is alright after everything else she’s been put through.”

Carlos nodded. He did feel bad for Mrs. Holt and understood why she had sought out their mother Lance when vanished. 

_Although, according to Mrs. Holt, that kid pretend to be a boy just to sneak into the Garrison to find out what happened on the Kerberos mission,_ Carlos thought. _I bet this is related to that somehow, especially if Shiro’s there._

“Okay, so we tell the family,” Sophia stated with a shrug. “Then what?”

Their mother squeezed her eyes shut before she opened then. “We do nothing, but wait.”

Carlos blinked. “Huh?”

“I know Lance, and I know he must have good reasons if he wasn’t able to tell us where he is, and the same for Hunk for that matter.” She placed her hands on her hips. “I know they’ll come home eventually, and when they do then we can get the full story.”

She closed the laptop. “Until then, we keep quiet about this and not breath a word to the Garrison. I have a feeling there’s a higher chance of us learning they’re back if the Garrison isn’t meddling to keep it a secret.”

Sophia’s eyes hardened and frowned. “You’re right, if they knew Lance and those other kids were out in space, they probably be waiting for them to land and locked them away before we saw them.”

“Exactly,” their mother stated and looked to Carlos. “Would Lola and Chris be alright with that? I realize this is a big discovery but-”

Carlos raised his hand. “We had a long talk about it, but they both insisted I should make the call since it’s my brother that’s in it.”

“Good,” his mother replied as her body relaxed. “Now..um..I need to go to the market...I think a special dinner is called for tonight.”

Carlos smiled and pointed. “Yeah, go ahead and we’ll tell Dad as soon as he gets home.”

His mother smiled before she wiped away another tear from her eyes and left them. Carlos looked over to Sophia. His sister grinned and without saying a word they pulled each other into a tight hug.

Lance was okay, and their mother was right. Somehow, someway, he was going to come home...and boy they were going to have questions about that aerial stunt!


	3. Chapter 3

Lance held his breath as his fingers wrapped around the doorknob. Finally, after all all the battles, all the fights, all the near death experiences, and all the torture his tastebuds went through with Coran’s cooking...he was finally home.

“You sure you want to be here?” Lance asked Hunk for the tenth time since they landed. “I totally get you wanting to see your folks-”

“Hey, we agreed,” Hunk said as he patted Lance’s shoulder. “We’ll see your family together, and then mine.” He gave a smile. “Way easier to explain things to our parents with backup right?”

Lance nodded, and briefly wondered how Pidge was making out seeing her mom, especially since she was bringing Matt and her dad back home too.

He stared at the door, took a deep breath and opened the door. The hallway was almost exactly how he left it. There was a new rug on the floor, his dad seemed to have fixed that side table that was always leaning, and there was a framed picture of himself wearing the Garrison uniform sitting on top of it. Yet, everything else felt the same. It still smelled of his mother’s favorite spices and flowers from her garden.

He was home.

There came the sound of footsteps. 

“Dad? That you?”

Lance’s heart stopped as he heard Sophia’s voice.

“Where’s the tool box? Carlos and I are trying-” Sophia’s voice trailed off as she entered with his older brother by her side.

Their eyes locked onto Lance. His body went stiff. Carlos dropped a book he had been reading. 

“Um..” Lance said as he gave a small wave. “Hey, guys.”

All heck broke loose. Sophia and Carlos charged and Lance found himself engulfed into their hugs and was certain Hunk was sucked into it as well.

“Lance, you’re home!” Sophia sobbed.

“Yeah,” Lance whispered as he hugged back. “I’m home.”

Carlos wiped his eyes and Sophia smiled at Lance warmly. They both then reached for Lance’s cheeks and gave him a hard pinch.

Lance yowled as he lurched back and nearly stumbled back into Hunk. “OW!” Lance glared as he rubbed his cheeks. “What the quiznack was that for?!”

“Oh, where do I start?!” Sophia snapped as she shook her finger. “We’ve been worried sick about you!”

“How could you just leave without telling us where you were?!” Carlos said as he shook a fist. “And what does quiznack mean?!”

“Okay, okay,” Hunk said as he stood in front of Lance. “You’re both really ticked, and I don’t blame you, but we can explain everything.”

Lance blushed as he rubbed his neck. “Sorry, a lot happened and I couldn’t contact you guys.”

Sophia and Carlos raised eyebrows at each other. “Oh, we know all about that,” Sophia said with a smirk.

Lance frowned. “Huh? What do you mean-”

“What’s going on?”

Lance’s arm dropped as he heard his mother’s voice. Oh man, it had been so long. She entered the hallway looking baffled, but then Carlos and Sophia stepped aside for her to see. His mother spotted Lance. She gasped, her eyes filling up with tears and without pausing raced forward.

“Lance!” she called out.

Lance ran forward, close to crying himself and they met in the middle of the hallway to embrace. He had dreams of feeling his mother’s arms around him, to feel her familiar voice soothing him again, but this wasn’t a dream. It was real.

“Oh, Lance, you’re finally home,” she sobbed.

Lance squeezed tighter before letting go. “Yeah, I’m home.”

His mother wiped away the tears as she cupped his cheek. “I knew it! I knew you would come home.” Lance couldn’t stop smiling. “Does this mean you’re done working with the alien circus?”

Lance’s smile dropped. “Huh?”

“The circus,” his mother continued, “the one you joined up in space.” She pointed up as if Lance was confused.

“Whoa, wait, circus?” Lance asked as he let her go. “Mom, what are you talking about?”

“Yeah, I don’t get it either,” Hunk said as he scratched his head.

Carlos and Sophia snickered. “Oh, come on, baby brother,” Carlos said as he wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “You know.”

“No, I really don’t,” Lance said, getting annoyed.

Did the Garrison tell some weird cover up story after they left?

Carlos let go and suddenly pretend to be holding an invisible microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, behold Loverboy Lance!”

Lance paled. “What?”

Carlos then placed a hand over his eyes. “Uh oh, it seems Loverboy Lance is in trouble! Can anyone save him?!”

No way..it just wasn’t possible. He glanced to Hunk and was met with a horrified expression.

“Never fear,” Sophia called out with a very familiar dramatic pose. “Shiro the hero is here to save the day!” She made a mocking shocked expression. “But look, evil Zarkon is planning-”

“STOP!” Lance called out as he waved his arms around. “Why..what, how do you know all of that?”

“Well, we saw it from your show, dear,” his mother said gently.

“The..the Voltron Show?” Hunk stammered.

They all nodded. 

Lance gapped. “How?! We never broadcast that to Earth!”

Lance had admittedly been tempted to try, but Pidge insisted they were too far away to do so. Granted Lance wagered she could if she had wanted too, but Pidge didn’t want anyone from Earth seeing the made up tech jargon Coran had been forcing her to say. She still ranted about that.

“Maybe not intentionally,” Carlos said as he waved a finger, “but my observatory picked up an alien signal and, load and behold, it was footage of you taking part in some weird alien ice show.”

Lance’s jaw dropped. They saw it! THEY SAW IT!

“No way,” Hunk breathed as he ran a hand through his hair. “You..guys saw that whole thing?”

“Yes, and it was very entertaining.” Lance’s mother said and then frowned. “But we kept it secret it and made certain the Garrison didn’t find out about. We were very careful about that.”

Hunk swallowed. “Um..that’s great,” he gave a shaky smile. “But..who saw it exactly then?”

“Well, after our family saw it, we showed yours-”

Hunk moaned as he fell to his knees. “NNOO!! My sister saw that?!” He moaned into his hands. “She’s going to tease me about that for the rest of my life!”

Carlos patted his shoulder. “Sorry, man, but they were worried too, we had to show them you were alive.”

“Yeah..yeah, I get that,” Hunk muttered and then sighed. “Oh..she probably has a whole list of puns already planned for this.”

Lance turned back to his mother. “So...you only showed it to Hunk’s family?”

“Well, no,” Lance’s mother replied. “We showed Colleen Holt, Pidge’s mother.”

“Pidge’s mom?” Lance titled his head. “Since when do you know her?”

“She reached out to us when you all disappeared, and we’ve become quite good friends actually.” His mother nodded. “I have her at least over once a week for tea.”

Lance rubbed his neck. _Wait..so that means Pidge is seeing her mom who knows all about the made up science stuff Pidge was saying during those shows...She’s probably dying from embarrassment right now._

“In anycase,” Sophia cut in sternly. “I know you always wanted to be famous, but to join an alien circus? That’s a rather weird approach.”

Lance growled. “It wasn’t an alien circus!” He pointed upward. “Hunk and I were helping to destroy an evil empire that had conquered the universe for centuries.”

Carlos blinked and scratched his head. “And you did that...by ice skating?”

“Yes...wait, no,” he rubbed his eyes. “That show you saw was just our way of trying to recruit different planets to fight for the cause. You see, we found a giant robot lion in the desert and then-”

“Alright,” his mother said as she patted his arm, “before you go into the full story, let’s call your father to get home just to save you from saying it twice.”

Lance swallowed. His dad. He get to see his dad soon. “Yeah,” he breathed, “yeah, okay.”

“Till then,” his mother said as she looked him over, “you look as thin as a pole.” She glanced at Hunk. “Hunk too for that matter. Did that circus even feed you two?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Yes, Mom, they did.”

His mother didn’t looked convinced. “Well, we have leftovers from last night and I’ll put some tea-”

The phone rang. Without missing a beat, his mother answered it. “Yes,” she began and paused. “Oh, hello! I heard so much about you from your mother.”

Lance exchanged a confused frown with Hunk and shrugged.

“Yes, yes, he’s here,” his mother continued. “Certainly, dear, I’ll hand you over to him.” She pointed to Lance. “It’s your friend Pidge. She’s asking for you.”

“Uh...okay,” Lance said as he took the phone and held it up to his ear. “Pidge?”

“SHE SAW IT, LANCE!” Pidge moaned into the phone. “THEY ALL SAW THE VOLTRON SHOW!”

Lance sighed. “I know, Pidge,” he said. “Hunk and I just found out too.”

Pidge moaned. “I survived space, and now turns out I’m going to die from embarrassment.”

Lance shook his head. "It could be worse. Those walking beanpole aliens could have asked for more than Shiro to come back for the reunion tour."


End file.
